


It Lingers

by bellygunnr



Series: dead robots walking [1]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Hiding, Hurt, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 18:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15646431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellygunnr/pseuds/bellygunnr





	It Lingers

A code-warping is not easily healed, Elecman finds, but he keeps this to himself. He keeps the side effects under the skin so that the good doctor can tend to those worse affected– Fire Man comes to mind, his usually easy temper turned hot and twitchy since the incident. Scorch marks still mar the lab floors where his mistakes had turn into infernos.

Scorch marks mar Elecman’s office where frustrations were vented into voltage. No amount of buffing had erased the marks completely, and he remembered the days where this would not have happened.

Code-warping is not easily healed, but his is not so bad that he should divert the good doctor’s resources to his own. The others are worse off. They need the attention more.

And so imagine his surprise when Guts Man is asking to come inside, visit him in his power plant. There’s a talk they need to do- it’s long overdue, he says, voice staticky through the security screen. Curious– Guts Man is not the talking type. He lets him in.

The scorch marks are hastily hidden. Elecman is as pristine and whole as ever.

 

Guts Man is too big for the office, but that’s alright. Elecman lets his slow, gentle voice fill the dwarfed space, fingers digging into the synthetic oaken desk. He does not like the topic- it brushes too close, too deep. He feels the urge to lash out.

It turns out that Guts Man is not so dumb as he thought- no, he’s quite philosophical, and talks deeply about his job and the good doctor. Humans are reluctant to contract with him, he says, because of what happened. He used to become angry at them but now not so much.  _Elecman_ , the Master asks, do you get angry now? I haven’t seen you since… well, since Mega Man.

Elecman does get angry, Elecman thinks, and he does lash out in rage. He slides a plant pot out from the center of his desk so that the arching, slithering consequences are put on display.  _I guess I do get angry_ , he says aloud.

_But what’s it matter? I’m still fine, and I’m better off than everyone else, right?_

He dismisses Guts Man but doesn’t look him in the eyes. The disappointment is palpable, and his concern crawls over his circuits.

_I’m better off than everybody else._


End file.
